Descent of the Pinnacle
With a blazing heat, a flash of light so blinding it froze the entire view erupted in every direction.
“…The Ineung of Baegyeom, reminiscent of the sun itself. I heard only one being on the continent can use it. Could it be…!”
Fwoooosh—!!
The Yokai never finished its sentence.
“Kgh, ugh…!”
The overwhelming flash that blanketed everything made it impossible to even open one’s eyes.
Thud. Thud.
“I’m glad I made it in time. You held out well.”
A heavy footstep that shook the ground mingled with an unfamiliar voice I had never heard before.
“When I left the village, you were still a newborn who couldn’t even babble. You’ve grown a lot.”
Through my barely cracked vision, I saw the silhouette of a giant figure stepping slowly toward us, backlit by a pillar of flame.
“Krr, graaaaaah—!!”
Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom—!!
Suddenly the Yokai roared and unleashed its Ineung at the giant.
Explosions erupted one after another around the giant’s body as the Ineung struck him directly.
The tremendous blasts kept hammering into him.
Thud. Thud.
Yet the giant showed no reaction whatsoever, simply walking forward in silence.
Before long, his figure emerged from the smoke—without a single scratch on his body.
“Ineung doesn’t work on me.”
“E-even if you’re The One! Th-this can’t be possible! Graaaaaah—!!”
Boom, boom-boom-boom-boom—!!
The man’s body was engulfed in dozens of explosions once again.
“I just told you Ineung doesn’t work on me. Is your learning ability lacking? Or are you hard of hearing? Or perhaps you simply can’t accept the reality before your eyes.”
“Hah, hah…!”
“I am the final bulwark that protects the continent. Not a single blemish is permitted on me.”
Finally, having taken every attack with his bare body, the man reached right in front of the Yokai and looked down at it, speaking flatly.
“I am the pinnacle.”
“Aah, u-ugh…”
A terrified whimper escaped the Yokai’s lips as it stumbled backward.
The very next moment, the Yokai that had driven all of us to the brink of death was split cleanly in half by a single casual gesture from the man and perished.
“Tsk.”
The bisected Yokai was soon consumed by Baegyeom and vanished without a trace.
“So we finally meet. I’ve wanted to see you.”
After glancing around once, the man slowly extended his hand toward me.
“Are your injuries all right?”
Thick, short black hair unique to our clan. Sun-bronzed, copper-toned skin. And a body of Geumgang that seemed as though nothing in this world could ever pierce it.
This was my first meeting with Arirang Peltix—the man who would one day clash with me over the seat of The One.
* * *
At the exact moment Junior collapsed.
Jubern was fighting desperately alongside Hi against Ampon.
“Huuu…”
“Hah, haa…”
Rough breaths escaped both of them without pause.
A single minor mistake could lead straight to the worst possible outcome—death. And it wouldn’t end with just their own deaths; their comrades beside them, and possibly even those they were meant to protect, could all be lost.
It was truly a life-or-death moment.
Because of this, both of them were exerting superhuman concentration, their minds burning under immense pressure.
They covered each other’s weaknesses and fought Ampon while buying as much time as possible.
Ampon, on the other hand, still looked completely relaxed despite needing to eliminate everyone here before the Seven Pillars arrived.
‘Whether those Yokai sent to stop them all die or not has nothing to do with me. I just need to have some fun, kill them all, and get out. Windslayer scattered his energy so much that pinpointing the exact location is difficult, but it shouldn’t be a problem.’
He still hadn’t even used half of his true power.
‘Something unusual seems to have happened over there…’
“Huh? You’re thinking about something else while fighting me?”
Shiver!
Taking advantage of the momentary lapse in Jubern’s focus, Ampon closed the distance without a sound.
“Kgh!”
Jubern reflexively raised his sword when he saw Ampon’s shoulder move, but it was a feint.
Ampon smirked, returned his shoulder to its original position, and swung his leg instead.
Thud!
“Ugh…!”
Distracted, Jubern took the blow and was sent flying, coughing up blood.
“Jaksan didn’t dare let his mind wander in front of me either.”
Ampon tried to finish Jubern while he had the momentum, but Hi intervened.
“Mangyeongjin.”
Shhhhhh.
Four pictographic characters paired up to form squares and gathered around Ampon.
The clustered characters soon layered into a perfect sphere, completely surrounding him.
“What’s this?”
Ampon narrowed his eyes and waited for something to happen. When nothing did, he decided to pay it only minimal attention and moved to pursue Jubern again.
“Hm?”
But he was forced to stop in place.
The pictographic characters were disrupting space and scrambling the ground beneath him, throwing his senses into chaos.
“Mangyeongjin, the array of ten thousand mirrors. So this is what it does.”
‘An array using runes. And he uses the same Ineung as me. They work well together. At this level of coordination, even most marquises wouldn’t escape unscathed.’
“Tch. Still, it’s making me nauseous. Annoying.”
After shaking his head for a moment, Ampon casually waved his arm. A few drops of water fell from his body.
The droplets instantly hardened into sharp spikes and shot toward Hi.
““…!””
Now free from Ampon’s pursuit thanks to Hi, Jubern quickly stepped between them to block the attack.
Clang, clang-clang-clang—!!
However, deflecting countless tiny, needle-sized objects flying at high speed all at once was extremely difficult.
Crack!
One droplet that slipped through grazed Hi’s mask.
Half the mask shattered, revealing clear eyes the color of emerald mixed with sapphire.
Drip.
Blood from the cut on her forehead ran across them.
“A-are you all right? I’m sorry. Kgh! It’s because I looked away for a moment…”
“It seems you’re worried about the others.”
Hi didn’t blame Jubern.
While Jubern kept his guard up against Ampon, she simply steadied herself and caught her breath.
“…You must have felt it too. One presence faded, and just now two others grew massive. Not being able to confirm anything makes it all the more unsettling.”
“I’m just as worried about the people over there.”
“I’m truly sorry, but may I ask you for a difficult favor?”
“…A difficult favor? What is it?”
“Could you create an opening for me? Just once?”
“What? An opening? What do you mean all of a sudden…”
Hi, standing behind Jubern, looked at the back of his head with slightly surprised eyes.
“If you can create even a momentary gap in his defenses, I’ll handle the rest somehow. In the meantime, please go join the others.”
“But if I leave this place, you’ll definitely…”
Hi hesitated, knowing what it meant for her to face Ampon alone, but Jubern was resolute.
“I’ll be fine. Rather, I should thank you for helping me until now.”
“Are you two done scheming? I’m curious what trick you’ll use to stop me this time.”
Ampon, who had been waiting cheerfully for their conversation to end, lightly kicked off the ground.
Boom.
His figure sliced through the air and closed in on them before they knew it.
“Mangyeong…”
“The same trick won’t work on me twice.”
Ampon deployed his water Ineung and blocked Hi’s interference.
Whoosh—
Hi was swept away by a fierce waterfall crashing down from above.
“Nakhwa… Kgh…!”
“You’re making me repeat myself. How annoying.”
“Tch!”
“I’m fine, so just like we said…!”
Jubern, who had been trying to protect Hi from the falling waterfall, changed his target upon hearing her shout and charged straight at Ampon.
“Oh? So you’re coming at me first this time?”
“Haaaaaaah!!”
Clang—!! Clang-clang!
Ampon wrapped a wave of water around the back of his left hand and blocked Jubern’s downward strike.
Even though Jubern had poured all his strength into the blow with both hands, Ampon casually deflected it with one hand. Jubern gritted his teeth inwardly.
‘Experience, Ineung utilization, the scale of both Ineung and Cheneung—I can’t compare to him in any of it. The only saving grace is that in terms of speed, he’s below my lord, so at least I can react.’
Training with Lan had been a great help.
Clang!
After knocking Jubern’s sword aside, Ampon extended his right arm.
“Hup!”
Jubern tilted his sword diagonally downward to deflect the blow, only for a heel to come flying at him next.
“…?”
Ampon’s eyes twitched as he saw Jubern’s hwandudaedo remain completely unmoved despite the kick that had been meant to shatter it.
“That sword’s pretty good. Even after all that pounding, there’s no sign of it breaking. Let’s see how long it lasts…”
That was when it happened.
“It’s ready.”
Hi, who had been preparing something outside the reach of their battle, called out to Jubern.
‘Come to think of it, that woman was still here. “Ready”? What is she planning…’
Shhhhhhhhhh.
Bright light and spinning runes appeared in Hi’s outstretched hands.
Countless more runes poured out from the spinning ones and scattered in every direction.
Where the runes landed, glowing points of light began to appear one by one until the entire area was filled with radiant light.
From tiny insects to plants and animals—everything began to glow.
“Mansangyohaengjin.”
Hi’s eyes, visible through the broken mask, grew even clearer.
‘This might be a little troublesome…’
Jubern’s fighting style focused on using concentrated muscle power to overwhelm opponents with straightforward yet powerful strikes.
Hi lacked that kind of single overwhelming blow, but she specialized in using her Ineung to confuse and bewilder, gradually wearing down her opponent.
Just like now.
Sensing something was wrong, Ampon leaped into the air, but light of every color burst from the bodies of inanimate objects—stones, soil, water—and bound his limbs.
Ampon tried to break free with force, but the bindings were far tougher than expected.
A brief burst of strength wasn’t enough to move them.
‘…They won’t break?’
Tremble.
Hi’s entire body creaked as she used this secret technique for the first time.
Enduring the strain, she bit her lip and barely managed to speak.
“Now…!”
Crunch.
At Hi’s signal, Jubern readjusted his grip on his sword and dashed past her.
Immediately after, a massive dark wave began to swirl and rise beside him.
It was completely different in every way from the techniques he had used until now.
Especially in terms of power—it was on an entirely different level.
Within the wave, countless violent sharks surged forward, racing toward Ampon.
“Shark Wave.”